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Coauthored by a homiletician, a theologian, and a biblical scholar, this book is a preaching primer that provides tools for crafting effective, engaging, and inspiring sermons. Using a unique workbook-style format,
Introduction to Preaching equips seminarians and preachers to use appropriate theological claims informed by solid biblical interpretation while providing several sample sermons from the authors. Readers will learn how to use a three-part schema-the Central Question, the Central Claim, and the Central Purpose-to provide the drive, direction, and destination for the sermon. Offering guidelines for using appropriate sermon forms, imagery, metaphors, and creativity, together with advice on how to deliver contextually relevant sermons using our bodies, presence, and voice make this a staple for both new and experienced preachers.
Introduction to Preaching includes a chapter on exploring the space of preaching, including onsite and online sermons. In addition, it features charts and worksheets to help organize the sermon-writing process, as well as exercises for the preacher's voice and body and tips for advice for guest preachers and supply preachers. A glossary of terms and an extensive bibliography make this a handy reference guide for students and all preachers.
About the author
Leah D. Schade is the associate professor of Preaching and Worship at Lexington Theological Seminary in Lexington, Kentucky. An ordained Lutheran minister (ELCA) for more than twenty years, she has pastored three Pennsylvania congregations in suburban, urban, and rural contexts. Her book, Preaching in the Purple Zone: Ministry in the Red-Blue Divide (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019), explores how clergy and congregations can address controversial social issues using nonpartisan, biblically-centered approaches and deliberative dialogue. She is also the author of Creation-Crisis Preaching: Ecology, Theology, and the Pulpit, as well as For the Beauty of the Earth, a Creation-centered Lenten devotional. She is co-editor and author with Margaret Bullitt-Jonas of Rooted and Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019), and co-author with Jerry Sumney of Apocalypse When?: A Guide to Interpreting and Preaching Apocalyptic Texts. She is the lead author, with Elizabeth Askew and Jerry Sumney, of Introduction to Preaching: Scripture, Theology, and Sermon Preparation (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023). Rev. Dr. Schade is also the EcoPreacher blogger for Patheos.Jerry L. Sumney is the Professor of Biblical Studies at Lexington Theological Seminary. He specializes in the historical-critical method of biblical interpretation and has written more than 40 articles and ten books on the Bible and New Testament texts including The Bible: An Introduction (Fortress 2010; third edition, 2021). He has contributed entries to the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible and the Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments, and the Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics. He is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and is past president for the Southeastern Region of the Society. Emily Askew is Professor Emeritus of Theology at Lexington Theological Seminary. A member of the LGBTQI community, she co-authored, with O. Wesley Allen, Beyond Heterosexism in the Pulpit (Wipf & Stock, 2014) to help preachers to learn to be more inclusive of LGBTQIA+ people in preaching and teaching in the church. She also writes on issues of immigration and her courses include an immersion experience on the US/Mexico border in Tucson/Sonora.
Summary
Introduction to Preaching: Scripture, Theology, and Sermon Preparation offers a new method for crafting effective, engaging, and inspiring sermons. Using a three-step process—the Central Question, the Central Claim, and the Central Purpose—the book offers helpful instructions and tools for novice and experienced preachers.
